Virginia made it easier to vote a few years back, including expanded options for early and absentee voting. Republicans nationally have been slow to embrace early voting, and it’s given Democrats in the Commonwealth an edge every November.
But Republicans locally and nationally are hoping to change that.
Turnout in Virginia’s Democratic primary was technically down this year, but the permanent absentee voter list, created as part of a wave of election reforms in 2020, led to a massive increase in vote by mail. That’s because, once you’re added to the list, your ballot is mailed to you every year.
Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have criticized early voting, but a renewed effort from national GOP groups this year hopes to push back on that criticism.
Here’s Republican State Leadership Committee President Edith Jorge-Tuñón in a news conference Thursday morning.
“We as Republicans needed to embrace all forms of get out the vote," Jorge-Tuñón said. "And this is a huge avenue we weren’t enveloping, and we weren’t developing.”
To that end they’re expanding on Governor Glenn Youngkin’s 2023 Secure Your Vote effort. The goal was to increase early voter turnout, but the House chamber still flipped to Democrats. Jorge-Tuñón said it was a learning lesson for this year.
“2023 we didn’t necessarily have the night we wanted, but had we not engaged in a program like this we would be in a much worse place going into this November,” she said.
House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore said he hopes the new effort, and the over $1 million in funding that comes with it, will help push the needle for his party.
“That’s our goal, it’s to turn out our people who want to stop this obstruction in Richmond,” the Gate City Republican said.
You can join the Early Absentee voter list via Virginia's Department of Elections here.
Early voting for the 2025 elections in Virginia starts September 19th.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
